Green Olive Dip and…Do You Like Biscuits?

(This post will make more sense if you have read my previous post, Hangi Time).

So the neighbours with the six children and the dirt bikes and the chickens and the rooster and the cigarettes and the long-neck bottles of beer and the bricks, tiles and concrete and the offensive language that landed one of them in prison, sold the house and moved on. We wondered who had bought it because with walls of chocolate clinker brick and shiny, slippery tiles and raw brick feature walls and brick archways and windows of orange bottle-glass we couldn’t imagine what sort of people would find this home appealing.

With the previous owners being a family of eight, the new owners were a couple whose two boys were all grown up and had left home. I spied on the couple from my side of the fence and then thought I’d speed up the introductions by throwing over a ball, jumping across the fence and telling them about the ‘accident’ with the ball and ‘Would it be okay for me to collect it?’

Green Olive Dip

And they gave me a very welcoming smile and asked, ‘Do you like biscuits?’ I certainly did. The man went into the house and came out with an enormous tin filled with assorted cream biscuits – all the biscuits my mother wouldn’t buy because she said they were bad for us! So I took one and they said I could have another and then he said I could keep the whole tin and take them home.

The new neighbours in the ugly house were a stroke of good luck. That is because the man was the CEO of a company that made biscuits, Easter Eggs and lollies. He traveled frequently (first class) and collected all those goodies the fortunate few up the front are given, and brought them back for me. Worthless items but to me they were treasure – eye patches, slippers, toothbrushes, tiny tubes of toothpaste, after-dinner mints and toiletry bags.

His company was always looking to expand its range so one day my sisters and I were asked if we would mind trying happy-face shortbread biscuits filled with raspberry jam and let him know what we thought of them. Another time they were looking at buying the rights to Tic Tacks and we were given trays of them and asked to give him our opinion. Another time it was chewing gum. We would hardly have been giving him an informative opinion however as we thought everything we had to taste-test was utterly incredible.

They dug up some of the concrete in the backyard and planted a large vegetable garden. I used to spend my afternoons helping in the garden pulling up carrots and picking ears of corn and harvesting ice-berg lettuce and picking beans and shelling peas. In the garage they didn’t keep chickens and roosters, they kept bottles of fizzy drink (another product my mother wouldn’t buy), that would be opened when I’d finished ‘helping’ in the vegetable patch.

With their grandchildren living overseas they ‘adopted’ us as their own. They took great pleasure in celebrating our birthdays and on my 10th birthday I woke up and looked out my bedroom window to see an enormous sign saying ‘Happy 10th Birthday’ and it was surrounded by balloons. When my older sister turned 13 they gave her a pink lipstick telling her that now she was a teenager she would be allowed to start wearing lipstick. They were greatly involved in our interests and abilities and came to watch us perform in concerts and swim in races and run around ovals.

White Bean Dip

It was very sad when we had to farewell our wonderful neighbours, Neil and Lesley, when we left New Zealand for Australia. We did keep in touch with phone calls and that old fashioned mode of correspondence called letter writing but it wasn’t quite the same. Years went by and Lesley became a widow, a few more years passed and I heard Lesley had cancer. I sent her a letter telling her what a wonderful person she was and shared with her all the precious memories I had from being their neighbour. She wrote a letter back saying those days were equally as precious to her. She passed away a few days later.

Good neighbours are a great blessing.

The biscuit company also made crackers. Here are two dip recipes I make to serve with crackers.

Green Olive Dip and White Bean Dip

Makes: About 1 1/2 cups each

Degree of Difficulty: 1/5 – if you have a food processor or blender

Cost: On Friday night I had an impromptu dinner party. At 5pm with the guests arriving at seven, I rushed off to Harris Farm and bought two dips for $8.50 each. Lovely dips but if you make your own you can produce four times the volume for a quarter of the price.

Green Olive Dip:

2 cups pitted green olives (I use the ones in the jars stuffed with pimentos)

1 red chilli, deseeded

2 cloves of garlic

small handful of parsley

juice of 2 lemons

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place all ingredients except olive oil in a food processor and blend. Pour in olive oil in a slow, steady stream and continue processing until olive oil is incorporated.

White Bean Dip:

2 cans cannelini beans (800g) rinsed and drained

2 cloves garlic

handful fresh thyme

splash of olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a medium-sized frying pan heat the splash of oil, add beans, garlic and thyme and gently heat until garlic is fragrant. Transfer to a food processor, add lemon juice and blend. Pour in olive oil in a slow, steady stream and continue processing until olive oil is incorporated.

Place in containers and serve with dips. Also can be used as a base in a pasta sauce.

And…I’ve been nominated in the Sydney Writer’s Group award, Best Blog 2012. There is also a People’s Choice Award. If you could take the time to vote for me I’ll be your best friend!

Comments

Hehe I had to laugh-at first I thought these were your current neighbours and wondered about you throwing a ball over and taking a biscuit tin home! But when I realised they were your neighbours way back when it made total sense!

What a lovely story Charlie, you were indeed very fortunate to have such amazing neighbours but then again you gave them back so much. Their generosity was definitely as way of thanking you and your family for their friendship. I love that you wrote to Lesley to remind her of your wonderful relationship and wonderful memories you have cherished. I wrote such a letter to my Mom even though we lived close enough to visit every day, it would have been so difficult to get the words out without it being a crying fest, considering the situation at hand. I couldn’t even read it to her, because of the tears, so I had her caregiver read it to her and she told me she ended up crying all the way through it. I do miss her terribly.
As you well know I just love white bean dip, but I don’t think I’ve ever tried the green olive dip (I make a tapinade with black kalamata olives). I always keep a can of chick peas on hand for such situations…but then it’s the crackers I never seem to have on hand! I adore the little bowls you served them in…makes me want to make a trip down to Tap Phong, a restaurant supply store in China Town.

What wonderful neighbors. I imagine they loved having you as neighbors just as much. Of course, biscuits in the U.S. are not cookies, which caused my daughter’s Irish friends much amusement when she studied in Limerick. They thought it was quite funny when she made them biscuits for breakfast.

You answered my question about who would move into the house following the “motley crew” who came before! What lovely, wonderful people you’ve shared with us. Your love and respect for them comes through your recollections of such kindnesses as offering biscuits and inviting you into their lives. I do love these recipes, Charlie. They are the kind of thing I love to make when I have guests, and I will be so eager to try them. This post moved me very much. People like Lesley and Neil are not what I’ve experienced in my neighbors, but I would sure like to be thought of this way myself. So lovely. Debra

What a lovely story. And you are so right, good neighbours are indeed a blessing. Neil and Lesley seemed to be even more than that, at least for a kid growing up next to them. Sounds like a dream for any kid. It just shows to tell that sometimes luck is better than common sense (as for who would move into a house like that).

I agree good neighbours are definitely a blessing And even though I’m quite young, I honestly believe though that we had a greater connection with our neghbours in the past…people these days, don’t say hi to each other, don’t knock on the door and chat with each other. Niel and Lesley seem like a wonderful couple ~ wow a CEO of a biscuit company! I’m so jealous hehe ~

Hi,
It must of been wonderful when these lovely people moved in next door, especially after those that moved out. They sound like they were the best of neighbours, it was also great that you did keep in touch every now and then.

What a lovely and touching story. I had neighbours like that for a while, I only knew them as Mr & Mrs Cantalin. My sister and used to go to there place to bake bread from scratch with Mrs Cantalin, (the old fashioned way- by hand!) and to pick strawberries with Mr Cantalin out of his garden. They also used to travel a lot and brought presents back for us from Thailand and Scotland. Things that back in the 70’s no one had seen in a little country town.

My, how your face must have lit up when you heard that your new neighbor was in the biscuit business! To a child’s eyes, this is the stuff of miracles. What a wonderful story and how fortunate for all that Fate brought your 2 families together.

What lovely neighbours indeed Aren’t those little bits and pieces so exciting for children? My daughter still loves getting the little shampoo and conditioners from hotels. My dad travelled extensively too, and he would not only bring home pressies for us kids, but all the neighbour kiddies as well. Most neighbours now rarely see each other, let alone are friends!
Your dips are delicious, and of course so much cheaper! Yummo!

What a beautiful story, and beautiful neighbours. I love that you kept in touch afterwards; it would have been easy when the biscuits and treats were there but distance makes it harder. I’m sure your letters and contact remained important to them and I felt quite sentimental when thinking about your final correspondence when Mrs Neighbour had cancer. Congratulations on the nomination too! I will definitely vote.

Oh my goodness. You have me in tears. What a beautiful story and what special neighbors you had! It’s such a treasure when you wind up with good neighbors and it sounds like they felt quite the same way about you.

My neighbour is the bestest.. she mows the lawn and trims the hedges for me! But when she left for a while and new neighbours came in, that’s when I realised she was a gem! Now she’s back I keep telling her to never leave!

We have had experience with neighbors on both ends of the spectrum, good neighbors are a great blessing! My favorite way to eat biscuits is under a heaping ladle of sausage gravy, but those are different biscuits than you are describing here. Love the flavors in your white bean dip, I’ll have to make some of that very soon!

It is so nice to have nice neighbours a rarity it seems these days when we hardly know them cos our lives are so busy. Good dips.
Good luck with being nominated in the Sydney Writers Group Award Best Blog 2012 I have put my tick in the box for you!

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Charlie Louie

Welcome to Hotly Spiced. My name is Charlie Louie and I live with my husband and three children, Archie, Arabella and Alfie and two elderly ladies, Ruby and Rosie (dachshunds), in an increasingly untidy and dilapidated Sydney eyesore.... [Read More …]